Lending a Helping Hand

For more than two decades, Door to Door Cleaners has helped Los Angeles residents keep their clothing clean. The family-owned business has long been an established, well-known part of our community, offering laundry and dry cleaning services, tailoring, shoe repair, leather cleaning, preservation of wedding gowns and couture garments, and handbag restoration.

But you may not know that Door to Door can also handle home-cleaning challenges from the common to the complex—including damage from water and fire. The company had the opportunity to help quite a few families get their homes cleaned up and habitable after the Malibu fires late last year.

One of Door to Door’s clients owns a home on the Pacific Coast Highway that was within 150 feet of the fire. The home, designed to look like a yacht, contained furniture custom-made by the Italian yacht-building company Benetti. After the fire, the outdoor furniture was covered in ash and soot and had absorbed smoke odor. The client hired Door to Door to deodorize, clean, stainproof and waterproof his damaged furniture—which they did in just a few weeks and returned it to the client in like-new condition.

Residence Rescue

The Veera family, owners of Door to Door Cleaners, and their team also offer customized services extending to all household textiles including bedding, pillows, rugs, upholstery and window coverings. They offer simple onsite spot cleaning or complex restoration—whatever the textile issue calls for in a client’s home.

Along with California living comes plenty of sunshine and ocean air, which causes sun damage and dry rot on fabric-covered surfaces—whether a couch, a silk rug or drapes. “Door to Door can properly care for furniture and rugs—prolonging the life of the piece without affecting the fabric,” says co-owner Sajid Veera.

Many of the company’s clients own higher-end upholstered furniture, draperies and rugs made of expensive materials such as double-ply cashmere or fine mulberry silk. With their extensive experience caring for clients’ delicate garments made from expensive fabrics, it was a natural progression for Door to Door to create a household department as part of their dry cleaning services.

“Our clients are opting for nicer bespoke garments and furnishings that are of heirloom quality,” says Sajid’s brother, Habib Veera, also a partner in the company. “We ensure that these garments and furniture will stand the test of time.”

Cleaning clients’ home theatres and antique rugs from around the world are among the many exciting projects that Door to Door is involved in on a regular basis. Recently they were hired by a client to clean and deodorize nine irreplaceable tapestries that range in age from 500 to 900 years old. This client’s home was within 60 feet of the Malibu fire, and the tapestries had significant odor and soot deposits. After Door to Door worked its magic, the results were phenomenal and the client was beyond satisfied.

At Your Service

Husband and wife Yasin and Yasmin Veera started the business in 1989 as a simple delivery route—a convenient service for their customers. Today Door to Door Cleaners is a full-service dry cleaning, laundry and tailoring business with 10 stores and a delivery service. In June the company will open a brand new store in Malibu at Cross Creek.

Sajid and Habib, Yasin and Yasmin’s sons, began working in the dry cleaning industry in high school and today handle the day-to-day operations of the business with their wives, Shaheen and Molly.

Door to Door cleaners gives back to the community through various organizations, including scrip programs at local schools and donating gift cards for fundraisers. They provide cleaning for Coats for Kids, which collects thousands of lightly used coats and distributes them to children in need. They utilize their fleet of vans to distribute backpacks and school supplies collected by Present Now, a nonprofit run by one of their Santa Monica clients.

Wherever you see Sajid, Habib and their team—whether at one of their stores, providing in-home cleaning services or delivering laundry to a client—they are sure to be lending a helping hand to their community.